Day 4: Tropical Morning Smoothies & Winter Detoxes

Thursday, January 16, 2014

I contemplated if I really wanted to start the Clean Cleanse in January, right at the beginning of cold cold winter. Cold smoothies for breakfast seems a bit too chilly when it is 30 degrees outside. Luckily for me, this week has been pretty warm (in the 40s haha) so downing a smoothie in the morning didn't seem as torturous.

Breakfast: I finally finished using one of my avocados so I decided to finally switch things up this morning. I am still longing for my California sun, but decided to go for the next warmest thing, a Tropical Lime in the Coconut Smoothie (recipe here).

Started out with all the tropical fruits from my freezer: pineapple, mango and peaches (are peaches tropical? It fit in with the color scheme). Added coconut milk, flax seed for fiber and some raw cashews for some extra protein. For something different, I tried adding some fresh lime zest to top it all off and boy oh boy did I feel like I was transported to the warm beaches of the Caribbean!

I'll share the recipe with you soon. :)

Lunch:Opted for something pretty simple, pan-seared chicken breast, roasted baby carrots, and green beans that were stir fried in the juices that was left in the pan from the chicken. The green beans were my favorite part of the meal!

Workout:Back to 45-minute spin class today. I've been feeling a tad sore from doing both kickboxing and spin, but definitely had the energy to finish class. After spin, I went into the sauna to sweat it out a little bit more. It felt good except towards the end, the temperate started dropping and I couldn't figure out how to increase it!

Dinner:By the time I did finished grocery shopping (picked up more almond milk for smoothies) and made dinner, it was already 9pm. Tonight I made a mushroom soup, basically stirfried onions, garlic and celery together. Added mushrooms, then seasonings (rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper) and finally added chicken broth. Blended the whole thing and topped with truffle salt and olive oil. It was a really filling dinner since I had about 2 cups of it.

Before I sign off for the night, I wanted to share some things about Detoxing in the Winter with you. I subscribe to GOOP (Gwyneth Paltrow's Lifestyle Newsletter) and since Gwen regularly does the Clean Cleanse, she partnered up with Dr. Junger to tell us this...

"Winter throws us a few challenges as far as detoxing goes: we are more hungry in cold weather and we need a certain internal temperature to function as mammals, which requires consuming more energy. But when we eat more and keep our bodies in continual digesting mode, we lose energy for other necessary functions and for our immune systems, which make us more vulnerable to getting sick."

It's important to really keep warm during this time and while these tips might seem a little bit intuitive, it's nice to keep in mind: